Seminar Abstract

Since the beginning of archaeology as a discipline, and even before, the question 'Who?' has played a core role in approximations to the past through material culture. However, the way to conceptualize this topic has changed considerably over time. Thus, the essentialist theories of the so-called ethnic-cultural paradigm were based on a simple and simplistic equation between 'people', 'language' and 'archaeological culture'.

In an age of increasing nationalism, archaeologists tried to trace the fates of tribes or peoples, often perceived as immutable and unchanging from the origins to the present. In contrast, nowadays there is a growing consensus in archaeology, anthropology and sociology that ethnicity is fleeting, constructed, relational and contextual, and that all social identities are historically contingent.

Consequently, recent post-processual proposals emphasize the subjective, fluid and situational character of ethnic identities. Dissecting and clarifying the different meanings is, therefore, a basic task needed to move forward in the construction of an archaeology of identities